This study examines three main aspects of Jorge Luis Borges's reading of Dante Alighieri, namely, poetic language, ethics and love. It attempts to reveal the ways in which Borges's interests in these issues manifested themselves in his appropriation of Dante and gained prominence within his work as a whole, paying particular attention to the years c.1920-c.1960. By developing each aspect in a comparative sequence the work illustrates the way in which these issues developed in Borges's work and, at the same time, provides a general perspective from which the reader can gauge their significance in Dante's thought. By establishing Borges as an ethical writer this book ventures into new and potentially controversial territory. However, even in the better-explored areas of poetic language and love, it presents new aspects of Borges's conception of literary activity and of his treatment of the erotic theme.

A refreshing new interdisciplinary slant on magical realism as an international literary phenomenon emerging from the trauma of colonial dispossession. Companion to Magical Realism provides an assessment of the world-wide impact of a movement which was incubated in Germany, flourished in Latin America and then spread to the rest of the world. It provides a set of up-to-date assessments of the work of writers traditionally associated with magical realism such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez [in particular his recently published memoirs], Alejo Carpentier, Miguel ngel Asturias, Juan Rulfo, Isabel Allende,Laura Esquivel and Salman Rushdie, as well as bringing into the fold new authors such as W.B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney, Jose Saramago, Dorit Rabinyan, Ovid, Maria Luisa Bombal, Ibrahim al-Kawni, Mayra Montero, Nakagami Kenji, Jose Eustasio Rivera and Elias Khoury, discussed for the first time in the context of magical realism. Written in a jargon-free style, and with all quotations translated into English, this book offers a refreshing new interdisciplinary slant on magical realism as an international literary phenomenon emerging from the trauma of colonial dispossession. The companion also has a Guide to Further Reading. Stephen Hart is Professor of Hispanic Studies, University College London and Doctor Honoris Causa of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru. Wen-chin Ouyang lectures in Arabic Literature and Comparative Literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies,London.